I used to hesitate a lot on roundabouts, due to not trusting the drivers when they indicate to leave the roundabout but they stayed on it, and if I would enter the roundabout I would be in danger, with time it passed due to having more confidence and always picking the right occasion to go and if I feel it is safe. Good thing to do is to tell to the instructor "I should have taken that opportunity, I hesitated" and then the instructor would say you did hesitate but it's fine or it's good you stayed, then you learn from it.
Something to look out for is actually the direction tyres are pointing. In fact as an experienced driver I look more for what directions the tyres are pointing than indication signals.
Thanks Richard. I passed my test few months ago. Thanks to your videos for helping me how to learn to drive, more so than any other instructor. I'll continue to gain from the videos. You are doing an invaluable service to the world, by teaching people an important skill
Wow! Thank you for your generosity! It's fantastic to hear the videos helped you! I hope you're enjoying your licence. I apologise that my reply is late, I've only just noticed this comment.
I had my driving test this morning and passed first time with 3 minors! I would like to extend my thanks to you, Richard, as your videos have helped me tremendously since I began learning to drive in March and I will continue to watch all your videos to get better and better.
I remember on my first driving test it was so busy I was held at a roundabout for 5-6 minutes (felt more like 15!). Worst feeling ever to be sat there, unable to enter, and second-guessing whether you actually had a safe gap the whole time. Not to mention -- that threat of a hesitation fault looming over you puts you under increasing pressure to push your luck and take a tighter gap than you normally should. You can imagine my surprise when I reviewed it with the assessor and learned that I had made the right decision!
I just passed first time today with three minors. Thanks for all the help Richard. Advice to anyone taking a test, even if you are *absolutely* certain you failed, still try your best. I thought I failed on two occasions: once where I emerged on a major road with a car coming & I had to stamp on the brakes, & the second where I braked quite sharply to tuck in on a hill with a car close behind, then stalled the car, & then rolled back quite a bit. Yet both incidents were marked as driving faults & I still passed so please don't ever give up during your test.
Ten minutes into the test yesterday, I was sure I had failed, because I made a car slow down and honk his horn at me when emerging from a minor road onto a main road. It turns out the true reason I failed was 4 counts of undue hesitation. The examiner later said there was enough space for the other car to not slow down, and it did not count as a fault, but that experience certainly made me overly cautious.
So true , they should change it to missed opportunity, not just hesitation! And I love the POV examples and actually showing it from a student's perspective, so helpful!
I was marked 3 times for hesitation on my first driving exam. Didn't fully understand why, but with practice later on, I realised the dynamics of the road. Thank you Richard for putting this video online, it was helpful to understand the reason for hesitation.
Like you said - "You need to listen to your own judgement." So, so crucial. Don't worry about what your examiner is thinking. Drive and make decisions that YOU feel safe and comfortable with.
Had my driving test last week, passed with only 2 minors! I always binged your videos since I felt you explained things so clearly and they helped so much, thank you!
Passed today first time with 5 minors! Thank you so much for all your helpful videos, including this one. I practiced in my own car with my dad or mother in law so your videos really did help me to learn and enabled me to pass!
I failed on hesitation, everyone I told including my instructor thought my examiner was harsh, everything else was fine. I’m here to learn so I don’t fail on this again. Really good advice here. Thanks 😀
In a driving test, most of the hesitation comes from worrying about the examiner's opinion instead of actually hitting something. Because every examiner has their own interpretation of the standard, the pupils don't know where is the line between safe and unsafe (what is a "safe gap" when pull away from the side of a road? not hitting? 2 seconds? 5 seconds? no car in view at all? What if the traffic just keeps coming?)They know they won't hit anything if they go, but they worry that the examiner doesn't like a learner driver taking such a tight gap, because a driving test isn't getting from A to B, it's a demonstration about you having incredible safety awerness. This kind of pressure can really mass up someone who usually drive very well without anyone prompting.
Couldn't agree with this more. The worst situations I found on exits were when you could see the oncoming traffic, but not judge it quick enough. If a car came out of nowhere? I'd be fine, I had good reactions. But when you see a car approaching and it's in a "grey area" between what is obviously safe and obviously unsafe, a newbie like myself needed 1, 2 seconds to judge it and decide. And those 2 seconds extra you take are easily the difference between having been in a position where you COULD have gone and now being in a position where you can no longer go due to hesitation.
Thisss. I was approaching a roundabout and none of the cars were indicating, and I found it hard to figure out what they were going to do. A stream of them were going ahead and I started feeling sick that this would be hesitation because I could have gone 😅 so I SHOT out after waiting a while and one of the cars came my way 💀 ahh
@@chloehoulden7258 Roundabout system are effective when there isn't much traffic, it sucks when there is a lot of traffic, and it's not beginer friendly at all.
Thank you for doing this video! I failed my first test for undue hesitation so all the points you make in this video I felt really helped me understand it a bit better before my next one.
I just want to thankyou for this amazing channel and such good instructions in videos, today i passed my driving test in first attempt with zero minors without any driving instructor, just following your instructions and practicing with family. Thanks again
Passed my test first time today and would just like to say a massive thank you for uploading these videos. They have helped me enormously alongside lessons from my driving instructor and I'll definitely continue watching and recommending your videos to my friends who are currently learning too.
I have my test in 2 weeks and ngl i didnt feel ready until i started watching your videos, following along with your mock tests have reassured me and i now feel more confident to do my best when the test rolls around :)
Today, I passed my driving test after 5 attempts thanks to the help of your videos, and my instructor in my previous test's was quite hesitant but today I forgot I had an examiner sitting next to me and my true abilities shined through
The 'anxiety' of watching all those missed opportunities... ;-) On a more serious note, this channel is so good I've sent a link our friends' kids, one of whom has recently passed while the other is currently learning. Both love the channel. 👍
I must have watched ALL your video and just passed my test this Thursday with just one minor. All of these tips are extremely helpful and relatable to my experience. Thank you!
Great presentation, with absolutely no hesitation in your speech, which makes the video easier to watch and comprehend even though it was fast paced and comprehensive. A recurring bad point in the film was the high number of vehicles driving straight over the mini roundabouts, and at higher speeds.
I've got my test approaching in the next couple of months and I often worry I'm hesitating and sometimes it makes me take risky gaps out of fear of taking too long. This is the clearest explanation of what hesitation actually is on the test - thank you!
Passed my test first go on the 20th July, with 2 minors! Still so much I need to learn so Ill continue to watch your videos, they are super helpful and easy to follow! :)
Thank you so much for all the hard work you put in. Passed my test 2nd time with 3 minors. Your videos were a great help as you go out of your way to explain weird questions that come into learner s minds and most thorough instructors leave them out.
i passed my test on saturday and i can’t stop watching, entertaining yet educational glad to be able to practice and learn, i havnt seen any other channels that explain driving as well as you, excellent content
I already passed my practical test about 6 months ago but I still view these videos to help me and the people around me stay safe e.g., hesitation is not a bad thing but however if a person is overly hesitant they will miss the easy opportunities such as on roundabout when you are trying to find a gateway once you see that gateway and you're not using that gateway to your advantage and setting off then you're being overly hesitant however on the other hand if you choose to do something dangerous e.g., when a car is already on the roundabout and you though that was your moment to pass on through the traffic danger can be caused to you and other road users around you. It's safe to say keep a middle ground when driving have a bit of hesitancy but also understand when you have a opportunity just use that opportunity to your benefit and don't obstruct traffic behind getting from point A to point B.
I agree, it's definitely better to be hesitant than over confident, as a new driver. The confidence builds over time, but over confident just leads to crashes. And when crashes most likely happen at junctions, caution is much better than taking an opportunity which isn't there or you are not quick enough to pull out into.
It has been noted by another comment that a large number of vehicles were not going around the mini roundabouts. The number of drivers not signalling to leave roundabouts is also disturbing. They should buy a copy of the Highway Code!
Failed my test yesterday with one major (hesitation) and four minors. Feels hard to take because both times it would have been dangerous to make progress because of 1. My view was completely blocked coming out of a junction and 2. Heavy traffic on a dual carriageway meant I’d have forced another driver to brake heavily had I pushed my way in from the slip road (which is a test fail, right?). I also had someone nearly drive into me when they went anticlockwise around a roundabout. It just wasn’t my day! Thanks for your videos, they are helping me no end, but I really struggle with the hesitancy vs taking unnecessary risks thing.
I've seen a few videos on RUclips where learners got marked with a serious for undo hesitation, specially at busy junctions . Just like you said the examiner SHOULDN'T ... But the reality at least on a lot of videos on RUclips real tests and mock tests the examiner wants the candidate to drive like an experienced driver . 100% agree ... undo hesitation should be changed to missed opportunity ... And to be marked down in a test , only when the learner misses a very obvious opportunity .
I failed my first test with a serious for hesitation. I still remember it clearly as I was really annoyed and felt cheated and I would still act in the exact same way now, 10 years later. I was approaching a junction in the right hand lane (because of parked cars). I saw a car parked very closely to the traffic lights and from my angle I saw someone sat in the passenger seat but I couldn't see the driver's seat. The lights were on green at this time. I needed to turn left so I needed to move over to the left hand lane, but this car was there. As I slowed down and got closer I saw that there wasn't anyone in the driver's seat and the car was actually parked up. Then the light turned to amber so I had to stop. Afterwards when I was told it was a fail and my driving instructor was talking to the examiner about it, he said that I could have turned left from the right hand lane though. Yes true, BUT if that car had been a running car and had pulled off and I turned left from the right hand lane I could have cut them up if they were going straight on or crashed if we had both turned left. I think that the hesitation is 100% necessary if you aren't clear what the situation of the road was. I 100% would do the same now. The second test I was extremely nervous and tried not to be hesitant. I remember pulling in front of an HGV at a give way with a bend in the road because I was trying to be quick. The give way was about 3m after some traffic lights. (I wasn't marked down for that, probably because there WAS a gap, but I wasn't ready to pull out into that gap at that point in my life because I wasn't quick enough at pulling away). My major that time was pulling into a side road too quickly. The third time I was extremely extremely nervous but I passed. The examiner told me I was too quick going round bends on the country roads though and he wouldn't go that fast! He pulled me over to tell me off and I asked if I'd failed and he said that he couldn't tell me and at the end I was told I'd passed. Strange! Weirdly, after passing, 10 years later, I wouldn't drive that quickly down the country lanes. I had been told that we have to demonstrate that we can go near the speed limit and around that area I was told to get as close to 60mph as possible. Now I think that it's not worth the risk and I'm not trying to prove anything. Plus I have heard of too many people dying on those country lanes, going round bends too quickly. There is to much emphasis on proving that you can go the speed limit at some point in the test, even if it's safer not too. And to not 'unduly hesitate', even if you are not experienced enough to take these risks. I can roll out around a roundabout now, or crawl up to a roundabout and then go straight out without stopping (I'd only be able to do that as a beginner on a completely clear roundabout), but I wouldn't have been able to do that as a new driver. I'd be scared of taking a small opportunity and pulling out too slowly and then have a car t-bone me.
Similar, I failed with one major for twice hesitating. The first time my view at the junction was completely blocked and edging out further would have been dangerous because of the speed and volume of traffic. The second time i was attempting to join a dual carriageway from a slip road in heavy moving traffic. There wasn't a decent break so I had to wait, but had I joined (from a stationary position) i'd have had no time to get up to 50 mph with such a tiny slip road. Surely I would have caused the driver behind to brake heavily (or even cause a collision) which would have been a test fail. It just felt like I couldn't win either way.
In my driving test, I was stuck at the first roundabout for 15-20 minutes. I thought I had definitely failed for hesitation but I only got 1 minor for missing 1 safe gap. Don't panic if you are stuck somewhere for a long time because it is busy. It does happen.
A friend of my father failed his test for waiting for the perfect gap at a fairly busy roundabout. He was asked to drive back to the test centre by the examiner & was told he failed. The roundabout was maybe 200 yards from the test centre and the test had just started. Apparently the queue behind him was getting a bit long so the examiner ended the test. Sometimes you have to just make the best of a gap that presents itself. I failed my first test because I didn’t go though a red light. I was turning right at the lights at a cross road, but to confirmation light as I call it for the road I was turning on to wasn’t on the corner, it was down the street a piece. I looked up, saw a red light, saw a lady waiting to to cross & so stopped. The examiner proceeded to inform me that the light wasn’t for me at which point I failed literally 1 mile from the test centre. In my opinion and that of my instructor I was deliberately failed by the examiner on my second test. I was on a roundabout approaching lights which were on red, but I could see the traffic coming up the slip road from the dual carriage was stopping at obviously a now red light so knew mine was going to go green so was rolling slowly so as not to stop & bang I was braked. At which point she even said “oh it’s green”. Had she not braked me I would have passed with one minor. After my test my instructor retraced my route asking me questions, when we got to the roundabout I told him the spot I was braked to which he said “that’s 20ft from the lights”. Hand for the examiner that dash-cams apparently aren’t allowed on tests as it would have proved beyond doubt it was a deliberate fail. Thankfully it was third time lucky & so far my judgment has been impeccable, especially recently on a roundabout where I had this feeling this driver on the left was going to pull right in front of me. Turns out it was a Dutch car and the driver was incorrectly giving way to the left rather than the right. Am I the only one that finds people who drive German branded cars don’t use their indicators & in many cases tend to be bad drivers? Or is it just me?
I bet the car behind you at 8mins in is thinking “what the heck are they playing at?”. I will certainly point anyone I know who is looking to learn to drive towards your videos, it all helps.
@@davidrobins1021 Black Audis are far and away the worst here in North Devon. The general arrogance, lack of empathy, and impatience of the modern driver is sadly very common. In my little town of Bideford there are quite a few 'difficult' junctions where I will let out other drivers even though I have right of way, since I know what a long and frustrating wait it can otherwise be. I am a 'white van man' but also an advanced driver, and surprised thanks are common when I wave someone out who clearly wasn't expecting it. I can honestly say it gives me a buzz and adds to the pleasure I already get from driving properly.
Recently had a crash on a roundabout involving a french driver. Exiting a 2 lane exit, I was in the right lane pulling off, they were in the left lane turning right 🙈 roundabouts are lethal for foreigners.
'I failed my first test because I didn’t go though a red light' but this is wrong because it's not about going through the red light, it's about passing the stop line when the light is on red. If you passed it when it was on green or amber then even if it's red by the time you pass the light it's not going through on red. You are allowed to finish your manouevre if it's safe. (sometimes it's not. There is a junction by me that has no right turn filter and you occasionally get stuck in the middle of the junction and have oncoming cars at you!. You usually have to make use of that split second when the lights turn red and make your turn then) I had a situation recently on my bike when I went through on green and then some pedestrians jumped out in front of me. One of them shouted that the light was on red, but it was only red by the time I got to that light which was situated on the other side of the junction. I'd gone through on green!
Thanks for the videos. I worry about getting marked down for hesitation. On my last test, because I pulled out of a junction when I shouldn't, I failed. Because i was worried, i was waiting too long. Thanks for explaining it better
As my HGV instructor said, you're better picking up a minor fault for undue hesitation than a serious fault for driving out in front of someone you should have given way to.
I failed a test for undue hesitation. Examiner asked me to turn right when stuck in heavy rush-hour traffic before a set of lights. I was in the left lane, so had put on a begging signal to get out. Fortunately, someone let me so that was all good, but the examiner did say at the end he was surprised I actually tried it and that he'd have just carried on at the lights instead of turning. Of course in driving test situations you feel pressure to follow the examiner's instructions, and driving myself I'd probably have just gone on straight ahead too. So I approach the junction. The right hand turn lane is clear, but starts maybe a car length in front of me, separated from the lane I'm currently in by a hatched area with broken white lines. This was the start of the examiner's problem, as he told me in the debrief that I should've moved up to the right hand turn lane instead of waiting in traffic in my lane. To me that was a safe but *not necessary* use of that hatched area. When I got to the right turn lane, there were a few cars in front, and I waited behind them to turn. As our lights came on, I moved away. There was a filter light for our turn, but this went off just as I was approaching the turning point, so I waited to turn in the junction. In hindsight there was time to make it round before the oncoming traffic reached us, but I was on edge from the traffic condition & examiner sitting there, and I had failed a previous test for clearing a right turn across traffic too slowly, so I decided to wait until the oncoming traffic went and cleared before completing the turn, as if I had entered the junction while the filter light was off. I was in a perfectly safe position not obstructing traffic flow, as it's not like I had actually already started the turn. At the end of the test the examiner told me I had failed due to hesitation around those lights, and that I needed more practice driving in traffic. Which is always true (even after eventually passing my test I needed much more practice driving in traffic, as I'm sure most do). Obviously though I was gutted as I felt like it should've been a driver fault or two, not a serious. My instructor was in the car for the test and seemed more upset than I did at the fail! I've passed now, but obviously still not quite over that one lol I think hesitation serious faults are some of the hardest to accept because obviously at the time the reason you're hesitating is usually because you don't feel like it's safe to go. If you failed for almost crashing or for speeding, it's obvious why, but hesitation fails are really up to the judgement of the examiner as to whether an opportunity is safe or not, and just because the examiner would feel safe taking an opportunity, doesn't mean a novice would. Good examiners must take this into account. Accumulation serious hesitation faults are probably a bit more understandable.
A problem I had with hesitation was that my then instructor (I got a better one afterwards) kept making annoying "you could have gone then" comments when I was trying to assess the situation. I honestly think a lot of instructors and examiners don't get that what looks like an easy opportunity to go for someone with their experience and confidence may not look that way to a beginner, and to this day I fail to see why maybe holding people up for a few seconds so that you don't cause an accident is such a big deal. The driving test should be about safety, not convenience for other drivers who lack patience. You'll get quicker as you get more experienced because it's in your own interest to get quicker. I passed my test in the end, but to this day, I still think it's stupid.
The golden objective of being a driver is travelling from point A to point B whilst being safe and legal e.g., making sure your vehicle is taxed and insured where tye minimum insurance is third party (collision with other road users) and safe such as having good hazard perception and anticipating well in advance what could happen and how will you negotiate with that situation if it does happen and knowing the highway code such as knowing when it's your right of way, when other road users have to give your right of way, what a one way street sign looks like, what should you do when you reach a give way crossing, what's the national speed limit for different types of roads e.g., the national speed limit for a motor way and dual carriage way is 70 MPH where as on a single carriage way road 60 MPH.
I failed my 1st driving test apparently due to hesitation, was gutted because I thought it had gone well and I had passed. Passed my 2nd test a few weeks later and honestly do not believe I drove any differently. Been driving almost 40 years now and never been in any accident and never made a claim on my insurance or had one made on it by anyone else.
Ten minutes into the test today, I was sure I had failed, because I made a car slow down and honk his horn at me when emerging from a minor road onto a main road. It turns out the true reason I failed was 4 counts of undue hesitation. The examiner later said there was enough space for the other car to not slow down, and it did not count as a fault, but that experience certainly made me overly cautious.
I failed my 2nd test for undue hesitation.As I was waiting for a car to pass beside me due to tide space, but I didn't realise that it couldn't pass as my car was angled and I was blocking it from passing.All my attention was at the front.😢
I almost failed my driving test for hesitation. I was giving way to a car at a speed calming section when another car was coming behind it. Now there was parked cars so if I went through in this gap then I would've caused problems and so I held back to allow the other car through. When the examiner said I'd passed he also said that he was literally about to write a fail for that hesitation. Crazy! If I had gone through, I probably would've failed for obstructing the car coming in the other direction.
I passed my test a long time i got a couple of hesitations at roundabouts. If i remember correctly it was all cars arrived at the same and it was a case of myself not wanting to rush the decision and to be safe and not rush. My instructor was more about teaching good observation and not rushing the decision than rushing. I basically said to myself give way to the right they give way to me . I cant remember if the car to my right did or didn't have a signal but they went left s i could have gone . With experience you learn to look at tryre direction more than the signal. So i could have set off but my thinking was be safe and go through the process and set of when safe and i gad right of way. I still did pass first time
I'm one of the unlucky few that failed my practical test yesterday with 1 of 2 faults being undue hesitation! I absolutely agree its a misleading label, since what actually happened is I was meant to overtake a cyclist over hatched lines meant for opposite road users to turn right when the road was clear, but genuinely I just didn't realise I was allowed to go over the hatched lines for that. I had 0 indication to ever overtake, so no hesitation on my part, I just forgot the rules when its okay to overtake! (I was safely driving behind the cyclist at a nice slow speed with no one behind which must have been painful for the examiner and my instructor in the back to witness me not overtaking him) My other fault was speeding 35 on a 30, my car stuck out slightly at the previous mini-roundabout (only got a minor for that) and I sped on the road I went into since my head wasn't in the right place, tried to focus on looking ahead when I should have been checking my speedo, oh dear (it was a nice clear road with no other road users but that's no excuse for speeding)... This first attempt in some ways actually made me more confident for the next try since I was so so nervous, but it wasn't as bad as I thought as soon as we got on the road. I'm also somewhat glad my two faults didn't put any road users at risk since both times it was clear around me (besides the cyclist I was very safely slowly following)
Very different from my area ... Still great info. Wheel position tells a tale, following that where are they looking,, Hate to say my area could be mobile phone even now, gulp
when I took my first driving exam I was confident with little to no hesitation till a biker caught me off when I got prio on a junction resulting in a fail which affected my 2nd attempt, my left leg was shaking and wouldn't stop 😂 but I still persevered through the shaking and passed, so being nervous doesn't necessarily mean you'll fail, just be cautious and always expect the unexpected
Today I failed with serious on undue hesitation. There was a truck parked on the left and there were oncoming vehicles but I got marked because there was hatched area that could be used. I felt the examiner marked me serious too early mainly because I was about to go after looking but it was already marked serious. Previously I had failed because I tried to go past a parked vehicle and this time it's because I didn't go past a parked vehicle. There is no grace for a learner to pause and react.
In them situations if you can proceed and wait in a place that isn't blocking traffic and aids traffic flow, take that option. The rules about hatched areas is a bit impractical at times and a bit of common sense needs to be used. You can enter and wait as long as you don't block traffic flow through the junction. Say at traffic lights turning right if you don't enter and wait you ain't getting through because by the time the traffic clears in the opposite direction the lights will have changed back to red then you can't go . If you kept doing that on every cycle of lights you ain't going to get anywhere. So don't be frightened to use the hatch areas as waiting areas then proceed. It's better than blocking traffic behind you
@@thor8419 With yesterday it is 4 times :/ I am going to keep trying but work on my hesitation and awareness and planning a bit more before trying again.
@@wrightwoodwork Yes thank you . Previously I passed a park car judging there was space and not wanting to block the traffic but I failed that time for passing the parked vehicle and there was oncoming traffic. This time I tried to take safe option but still failed so it bummed me. But I think I still need to work on my awareness and planning. I will keep trying.
I failed today for that. I did it once. I stopped at a round about becauseI wasn't 100% sure id make it without her saying it was unsafe. think it was unfair. I only did it once.
Do you perform test for taxidrivers/license? Would be fun to learn any differences between the UK and the swedish tests (I have the swedish taxi license). The driven test in swe is kind of a zero error tolerance test (almost) and a traffic flow engagement test. (And some other aspects)
Since getting a much more powerful car, roundabouts are much easier. I imagine the HGV tests on roundabouts are soooo much harder because by the time your lorry has entered the roundabout, there are cars!
I did 10 lessons with a driving instructor in a slightly older car and I would stall regularly or it would judder. I changed instructors and the 2nd one had a new mini. I hardly stalled and I could pull away so much faster. My first hour with him and I could pull away with no issues and I learnt more than the previous 10 hours. When I bought my own car, I can pull away in 2nd and it doesn't even stall and it pulls away without me even putting my foot on the gas (my 1st instructor wanted me to be able to do this but I think that his car was too knackered). When I feel that it doesn't like a gear I just have to apply a tiny bit of gas or change and it's fine. I can 'hang' on longer without it feeling that it will die. That first car was awful. My work knackered pool car used to stall all the time and judder too (and the engine just wouldn't turn on regularly). I used to prefer taking the personal cars because they were much easier to drive. It's tricky if the learner has a crap old car to drive in. Sometimes a more powerful car is easier!
My anxiety watching you hold up traffic 📈me worrying about people behind me is one of the problems I need to work on. Especially when parking with people behind me... watching this kind of helps knowing everyone is still okay after this 😅
A lot of people don't slow down enough into junctions/hazards and then they don't have time to think which leads to hesitation or missed opportunity to go.
On a trailer test in Northern Ireland I got 2 minors/driving faults for hesitation. I forgot to ask the examiner to run through them as I got 8 in total and that got me feeling down despite passing. Anyway, I think I got them for how I acted at a crossroads and for not overtaking a slow learner respectively and would have like to have seen some examples for these scenarios. I think I got one at the crossroads because there was an oncoming car wishing to continue straight and I was turning right, but they waved me to go first which threw me off. There was also a parked car to the right which slowed traffic from that direction, but I expected to accelerate more on driving around it, and didn't fancy my chances with a trailer in a car I was still unfamiliar with. I had 2 separate double sessions prior to test, a sort of bundle number of hours thing that instructor did, chosen because they were related to the instructor I got my basic car licence with, which I was happy with, although she has since started her own driving school since then and had/has a different style to this instructor. Anyway, I crept forward then changed my mind a couple of times (a somewhat closed view to top it off) after the driver ahead decided not to go first and traffic from the left caused those from the right to stop behind the parked car then take the same gap I was going for to move around it, but slower than I expected/prepared myself for. The second, or maybe both, I gained on a learner doing 20 mph in a 30 mph zone, 2 lane one way road. I stayed behind as I was following signs as instructed at this point, only the left lane went to 'Belfast' around this piece from the station in Coleraine. If I was driving myself, I would have passed in front of the police station, but in personal driving I wouldn't be as concerned about not exceeding the speed limit as on test, so I didn't go there. Unfortunately, the learner was also following signs to Belfast by the looks of it and after stalling at at least one set of lights, exited ahead of me onto the dual carriageway past the hospital, now a 50 mph zone in which they were doing 30 mph. I thought for sure I had to overtake now, but the anxiety of exceeding the speed limit meant I was maybe a bit slow to committing to the pass, and at the moment I was about to go for it, another car pulled out from behind, and several followed them. All but one got through the next set of lights at the hospital itself, with me still behind the learner. It accelerated away and the learner was slow again, I waited to see how fast exactly they were going to go as I couldn't go over 45 mph either if they found the accelerator for the soon to be 70 mph zone. They accelerated, slowly again, then an Audi appeared in the slip road slightly behind the learner. I decided I had to move over for them to join safely, so checked, changed lanes, but for fear of exceeding 45 mph and failing, I didn't accelerate as much as expected, only reaching 40 mph. The learner must have been encouraged by their instructor due to the position of the Audi, so they probably hit 45 mph relatively quickly after that, and the Audi joined at the stereotypical following distance so didn't need me to move over after all, and then I'm sitting in lane 2 at 40 mph in a national dual carriageway. I moved left again, but I imagine that would have been enough for a 'hesitation' mark, and presumably the crossroads thing too, or maybe failing to pass before the national limit was the first then butchering the move over after was the second, either way, I'd have liked to see examples beyond roundabouts for that reason, or at least some feedback if this comment has enough detail to do so if you read this.
One of the 3 minors on my driving test was a hesitation for not overtaking a tractor. We were on a relatively narrow country road with low visibility so I didn’t even consider it as an option until the car behind overtook both me and the tractor at the same time 😂
Hi, well, look at it this way, your inexperience resulted in another driver performing a potentially dangerous manoeuvre. You might have pulled out as they overtook you. Your L plates should have made them give you more time. Both of you were at fault but if you don't feel a manoeuvre is safe then don't do it - even if it means failing the test. You need more experience to evaluate these situations. I once asked my Dad how long it would take me to become a reasonably good driver expecting to get the answer as some number of months. Then thousand mile is wha he said and you know what? I now realise he was right. Passing the test is just the start, we have to go on learning for the rest of our driving career. I've been driving since 1987 with no points ever on my licence and I am still learning. Keep at it, you'll get there. Remember, driving is a privilege, not a right and you have the weapon - go carefully, go safely.
Thank you for this video , I don’t have hesitation issues on roundabouts sometimes on junctions from side roads to busier roads. Do you have any videos on decision making on busy junctions turning left/right
9:43 Interested to know what became of that exit on that roundabout, appeared to me that the Audi in the mirror looked like they came around abit aggressively to squeeze in front and if not Looked to be going around too quickly knowing the static traffic would likely be sat on the roundabout blocking the 3rd exit. 🤔
I was in my learner car. The majority of driver's are patient with learners. The bad examples you may see posted on the internet really are the few, not the norm.
As its said in comments. Pupils do not want to take chances with what is considered an opportunity in traffic. I myself got marked for that. Now i have full license i even drive when car from the right side is already moving but i have time to slip in front of it since i didnt stop completely before roundabout, im sure if i did it at test i would made a serious grade mistake and fail
I failed my test today due to undue hesitation at roundabout only and he said I was being too cautious..if i knew this was a major fault could have done better...I'll try again
I failed my driving test today. I came up to a mini roundabout signalling to turn right , as I approached a bus approached the mini roundabout from my right hand side so I stopped momentarily. Realising he was signalling left I then got going and turned right. My instructor said he thought it was really harsh that I failed for that and I feel a little bit cheated because the whole drive went so well. 1 serious fault and that was it. Everyone I’ve spoken to thinks I was harshly treated just wondered what you thought of this?
Hello Richard, I am Fedrick I want to know from you that 'is it bad for the vehicle or the clutch if we do handbrake start many times on a very long steep uphill? Please make a short video on that...thank you...
Hey Richard I know you covered this briefly in the video where you take someone who passed their test but haven't driven in a long time do a mock test again. But was wondering if you ever made a video on your opinion on things such as pass plus. Also not gonna lie. I still hesitate even after I passed 😂
Earlier this morning I was pulled over by cops but only reason they pulled me over ware to say for long time they didn't see someone driving so right and they give me set of reflective triangles, first aid reflective jacket and buch of guddies xD. So here am I to say thanks for all great tips and tricks and hopefully to try and get some of my good mood over to you. xD
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
I used to hesitate a lot on roundabouts, due to not trusting the drivers when they indicate to leave the roundabout but they stayed on it, and if I would enter the roundabout I would be in danger, with time it passed due to having more confidence and always picking the right occasion to go and if I feel it is safe. Good thing to do is to tell to the instructor "I should have taken that opportunity, I hesitated" and then the instructor would say you did hesitate but it's fine or it's good you stayed, then you learn from it.
Something to look out for is actually the direction tyres are pointing. In fact as an experienced driver I look more for what directions the tyres are pointing than indication signals.
@@wrightwoodwork That's actually a good tip, I will try it out in the next lesson, thank you :d
@@wrightwoodworkI was taught this way too. Ignore the indicators (not completely) Look for where the driver is looking if possible.
@@Chrisallengallerytrue
I have my first lesson on Wednesday. Is it ok to do driving commentary during my lessons or is that weird?
Thanks Richard. I passed my test few months ago. Thanks to your videos for helping me how to learn to drive, more so than any other instructor. I'll continue to gain from the videos. You are doing an invaluable service to the world, by teaching people an important skill
Wow! Thank you for your generosity! It's fantastic to hear the videos helped you! I hope you're enjoying your licence. I apologise that my reply is late, I've only just noticed this comment.
Wow thanks for the donation man. God bless you. Cheers
Christ, you must have annoyed a lot of people, particuarly at the roundabout filming this. Appreciate it.
I had my driving test this morning and passed first time with 3 minors! I would like to extend my thanks to you, Richard, as your videos have helped me tremendously since I began learning to drive in March and I will continue to watch all your videos to get better and better.
That's fantastic news! Thank you for watching and congratulations on passing!
Congrats mate
Big head
I remember on my first driving test it was so busy I was held at a roundabout for 5-6 minutes (felt more like 15!). Worst feeling ever to be sat there, unable to enter, and second-guessing whether you actually had a safe gap the whole time. Not to mention -- that threat of a hesitation fault looming over you puts you under increasing pressure to push your luck and take a tighter gap than you normally should. You can imagine my surprise when I reviewed it with the assessor and learned that I had made the right decision!
I just passed first time today with three minors. Thanks for all the help Richard.
Advice to anyone taking a test, even if you are *absolutely* certain you failed, still try your best. I thought I failed on two occasions: once where I emerged on a major road with a car coming & I had to stamp on the brakes, & the second where I braked quite sharply to tuck in on a hill with a car close behind, then stalled the car, & then rolled back quite a bit. Yet both incidents were marked as driving faults & I still passed so please don't ever give up during your test.
Ten minutes into the test yesterday, I was sure I had failed, because I made a car slow down and honk his horn at me when emerging from a minor road onto a main road. It turns out the true reason I failed was 4 counts of undue hesitation. The examiner later said there was enough space for the other car to not slow down, and it did not count as a fault, but that experience certainly made me overly cautious.
So true , they should change it to missed opportunity, not just hesitation! And I love the POV examples and actually showing it from a student's perspective, so helpful!
I was marked 3 times for hesitation on my first driving exam. Didn't fully understand why, but with practice later on, I realised the dynamics of the road. Thank you Richard for putting this video online, it was helpful to understand the reason for hesitation.
Like you said - "You need to listen to your own judgement." So, so crucial. Don't worry about what your examiner is thinking. Drive and make decisions that YOU feel safe and comfortable with.
Oh perfect timing on the upload. My test is tomorrow morning. Thanks so much for all your help!
Good luck 😊
@@alicedaisy612 Thanks!
Good luck tomorrow. Let's us know how it went after the test
Good luck!
Mine too @8:10
Had my driving test last week, passed with only 2 minors! I always binged your videos since I felt you explained things so clearly and they helped so much, thank you!
Passed today first time with 5 minors! Thank you so much for all your helpful videos, including this one. I practiced in my own car with my dad or mother in law so your videos really did help me to learn and enabled me to pass!
Thank you for making those great videos, it really helped me pass my driving test in the UK!
That's fantastic to hear! Thank you for your generosity and congratulations on passing your driving test!
I failed on hesitation, everyone I told including my instructor thought my examiner was harsh, everything else was fine. I’m here to learn so I don’t fail on this again. Really good advice here. Thanks 😀
I passed my test last week. Your videos was very helpful.
Congratulations! 👍
Thank you for watching and congratulations on passing!
In a driving test, most of the hesitation comes from worrying about the examiner's opinion instead of actually hitting something. Because every examiner has their own interpretation of the standard, the pupils don't know where is the line between safe and unsafe (what is a "safe gap" when pull away from the side of a road? not hitting? 2 seconds? 5 seconds? no car in view at all? What if the traffic just keeps coming?)They know they won't hit anything if they go, but they worry that the examiner doesn't like a learner driver taking such a tight gap, because a driving test isn't getting from A to B, it's a demonstration about you having incredible safety awerness. This kind of pressure can really mass up someone who usually drive very well without anyone prompting.
True
Couldn't agree with this more. The worst situations I found on exits were when you could see the oncoming traffic, but not judge it quick enough. If a car came out of nowhere? I'd be fine, I had good reactions. But when you see a car approaching and it's in a "grey area" between what is obviously safe and obviously unsafe, a newbie like myself needed 1, 2 seconds to judge it and decide. And those 2 seconds extra you take are easily the difference between having been in a position where you COULD have gone and now being in a position where you can no longer go due to hesitation.
Thisss. I was approaching a roundabout and none of the cars were indicating, and I found it hard to figure out what they were going to do. A stream of them were going ahead and I started feeling sick that this would be hesitation because I could have gone 😅 so I SHOT out after waiting a while and one of the cars came my way 💀 ahh
@@chloehoulden7258 Roundabout system are effective when there isn't much traffic, it sucks when there is a lot of traffic, and it's not beginer friendly at all.
If it was all about safety then hesitation should not be such a big issue, if it doesn’t put other road users in danger that is
I passed my test today(3rd attempt). I watched your video yesterday, it really helped. Thanks!
Thank you for doing this video! I failed my first test for undue hesitation so all the points you make in this video I felt really helped me understand it a bit better before my next one.
I just want to thankyou for this amazing channel and such good instructions in videos, today i passed my driving test in first attempt with zero minors without any driving instructor, just following your instructions and practicing with family. Thanks again
Passed my test first time today and would just like to say a massive thank you for uploading these videos. They have helped me enormously alongside lessons from my driving instructor and I'll definitely continue watching and recommending your videos to my friends who are currently learning too.
I have my test in 2 weeks and ngl i didnt feel ready until i started watching your videos, following along with your mock tests have reassured me and i now feel more confident to do my best when the test rolls around :)
Today, I passed my driving test after 5 attempts thanks to the help of your videos, and my instructor in my previous test's was quite hesitant but today I forgot I had an examiner sitting next to me and my true abilities shined through
im going to do the test in about 3 months and this is genuinely good advice
The 'anxiety' of watching all those missed opportunities... ;-)
On a more serious note, this channel is so good I've sent a link our friends' kids, one of whom has recently passed while the other is currently learning. Both love the channel. 👍
I must have watched ALL your video and just passed my test this Thursday with just one minor. All of these tips are extremely helpful and relatable to my experience. Thank you!
Great presentation, with absolutely no hesitation in your speech, which makes the video easier to watch and comprehend even though it was fast paced and comprehensive.
A recurring bad point in the film was the high number of vehicles driving straight over the mini roundabouts, and at higher speeds.
I've got my test approaching in the next couple of months and I often worry I'm hesitating and sometimes it makes me take risky gaps out of fear of taking too long. This is the clearest explanation of what hesitation actually is on the test - thank you!
Did you take your test?
@@7rodo yes I passed first time!!
@@Rebecca-oz1uu well done!! I fear for my test in just over a weeks time haha
@@7rodo Did you take it?
@@Rebecca-oz1uu yes, unfortunately failed. 1 serious, 2 minors. Hoping to find another date!
Passed my test first go on the 20th July, with 2 minors! Still so much I need to learn so Ill continue to watch your videos, they are super helpful and easy to follow! :)
Thank you for watching and congratulations on passing!
Thank you so much for including some example clips , you are the BEST driving instructor Period ! :) :)
Thank you so much for all the hard work you put in. Passed my test 2nd time with 3 minors. Your videos were a great help as you go out of your way to explain weird questions that come into learner s minds and most thorough instructors leave them out.
i passed my test on saturday and i can’t stop watching, entertaining yet educational glad to be able to practice and learn, i havnt seen any other channels that explain driving as well as you, excellent content
Passed my test today with 0 minors. Your videos have helped so much, cheers
Passed my driving test today, thank you for your helpful videos!
your video are helpful i keep watching although I passed driving test test in 2023 . watching from UAE
Hi Richard, Wanted to say thank you so much for doing these sort of videos. These helped me pass second time on my Test yesterday. :)
Passed on 31st of July on my first try! Your videos helped me so much in passing my test. Thanks, Richard!
That's fantastic news! Thank you for watching and congratulations on passing!
I already passed my practical test about 6 months ago but I still view these videos to help me and the people around me stay safe e.g., hesitation is not a bad thing but however if a person is overly hesitant they will miss the easy opportunities such as on roundabout when you are trying to find a gateway once you see that gateway and you're not using that gateway to your advantage and setting off then you're being overly hesitant however on the other hand if you choose to do something dangerous e.g., when a car is already on the roundabout and you though that was your moment to pass on through the traffic danger can be caused to you and other road users around you. It's safe to say keep a middle ground when driving have a bit of hesitancy but also understand when you have a opportunity just use that opportunity to your benefit and don't obstruct traffic behind getting from point A to point B.
I agree, it's definitely better to be hesitant than over confident, as a new driver. The confidence builds over time, but over confident just leads to crashes. And when crashes most likely happen at junctions, caution is much better than taking an opportunity which isn't there or you are not quick enough to pull out into.
It has been noted by another comment that a large number of vehicles were not going around the mini roundabouts. The number of drivers not signalling to leave roundabouts is also disturbing. They should buy a copy of the Highway Code!
Failed my test yesterday with one major (hesitation) and four minors. Feels hard to take because both times it would have been dangerous to make progress because of 1. My view was completely blocked coming out of a junction and 2. Heavy traffic on a dual carriageway meant I’d have forced another driver to brake heavily had I pushed my way in from the slip road (which is a test fail, right?). I also had someone nearly drive into me when they went anticlockwise around a roundabout. It just wasn’t my day! Thanks for your videos, they are helping me no end, but I really struggle with the hesitancy vs taking unnecessary risks thing.
I've seen a few videos on RUclips where learners got marked with a serious for undo hesitation, specially at busy junctions . Just like you said the examiner SHOULDN'T ...
But the reality at least on a lot of videos on RUclips real tests and mock tests the examiner wants the candidate to drive like an experienced driver .
100% agree ...
undo hesitation should be changed to missed opportunity ... And to be marked down in a test , only when the learner misses a very obvious opportunity .
I failed my first test with a serious for hesitation. I still remember it clearly as I was really annoyed and felt cheated and I would still act in the exact same way now, 10 years later.
I was approaching a junction in the right hand lane (because of parked cars). I saw a car parked very closely to the traffic lights and from my angle I saw someone sat in the passenger seat but I couldn't see the driver's seat. The lights were on green at this time. I needed to turn left so I needed to move over to the left hand lane, but this car was there.
As I slowed down and got closer I saw that there wasn't anyone in the driver's seat and the car was actually parked up. Then the light turned to amber so I had to stop.
Afterwards when I was told it was a fail and my driving instructor was talking to the examiner about it, he said that I could have turned left from the right hand lane though. Yes true, BUT if that car had been a running car and had pulled off and I turned left from the right hand lane I could have cut them up if they were going straight on or crashed if we had both turned left.
I think that the hesitation is 100% necessary if you aren't clear what the situation of the road was. I 100% would do the same now.
The second test I was extremely nervous and tried not to be hesitant. I remember pulling in front of an HGV at a give way with a bend in the road because I was trying to be quick. The give way was about 3m after some traffic lights. (I wasn't marked down for that, probably because there WAS a gap, but I wasn't ready to pull out into that gap at that point in my life because I wasn't quick enough at pulling away). My major that time was pulling into a side road too quickly.
The third time I was extremely extremely nervous but I passed. The examiner told me I was too quick going round bends on the country roads though and he wouldn't go that fast! He pulled me over to tell me off and I asked if I'd failed and he said that he couldn't tell me and at the end I was told I'd passed. Strange!
Weirdly, after passing, 10 years later, I wouldn't drive that quickly down the country lanes. I had been told that we have to demonstrate that we can go near the speed limit and around that area I was told to get as close to 60mph as possible. Now I think that it's not worth the risk and I'm not trying to prove anything. Plus I have heard of too many people dying on those country lanes, going round bends too quickly.
There is to much emphasis on proving that you can go the speed limit at some point in the test, even if it's safer not too. And to not 'unduly hesitate', even if you are not experienced enough to take these risks. I can roll out around a roundabout now, or crawl up to a roundabout and then go straight out without stopping (I'd only be able to do that as a beginner on a completely clear roundabout), but I wouldn't have been able to do that as a new driver. I'd be scared of taking a small opportunity and pulling out too slowly and then have a car t-bone me.
Similar, I failed with one major for twice hesitating. The first time my view at the junction was completely blocked and edging out further would have been dangerous because of the speed and volume of traffic. The second time i was attempting to join a dual carriageway from a slip road in heavy moving traffic. There wasn't a decent break so I had to wait, but had I joined (from a stationary position) i'd have had no time to get up to 50 mph with such a tiny slip road. Surely I would have caused the driver behind to brake heavily (or even cause a collision) which would have been a test fail. It just felt like I couldn't win either way.
Okay, hesitation and being careful is good 😮
Thank you Richard 😊
Been watching this man ages and ages got my test Tues wish me luck 😃
Thank you for watching and good luck!
@@ConquerDriving thanks so much X
You're the best teacher ever
Thank you for all the content you put out Richard.
In my driving test, I was stuck at the first roundabout for 15-20 minutes. I thought I had definitely failed for hesitation but I only got 1 minor for missing 1 safe gap. Don't panic if you are stuck somewhere for a long time because it is busy. It does happen.
Really like the headcam examples.
This is a very good explanation on this Richard. These videos are fun to watch to and are very enjoyable
A friend of my father failed his test for waiting for the perfect gap at a fairly busy roundabout. He was asked to drive back to the test centre by the examiner & was told he failed. The roundabout was maybe 200 yards from the test centre and the test had just started. Apparently the queue behind him was getting a bit long so the examiner ended the test. Sometimes you have to just make the best of a gap that presents itself.
I failed my first test because I didn’t go though a red light. I was turning right at the lights at a cross road, but to confirmation light as I call it for the road I was turning on to wasn’t on the corner, it was down the street a piece. I looked up, saw a red light, saw a lady waiting to to cross & so stopped. The examiner proceeded to inform me that the light wasn’t for me at which point I failed literally 1 mile from the test centre. In my opinion and that of my instructor I was deliberately failed by the examiner on my second test. I was on a roundabout approaching lights which were on red, but I could see the traffic coming up the slip road from the dual carriage was stopping at obviously a now red light so knew mine was going to go green so was rolling slowly so as not to stop & bang I was braked. At which point she even said “oh it’s green”. Had she not braked me I would have passed with one minor. After my test my instructor retraced my route asking me questions, when we got to the roundabout I told him the spot I was braked to which he said “that’s 20ft from the lights”. Hand for the examiner that dash-cams apparently aren’t allowed on tests as it would have proved beyond doubt it was a deliberate fail. Thankfully it was third time lucky & so far my judgment has been impeccable, especially recently on a roundabout where I had this feeling this driver on the left was going to pull right in front of me. Turns out it was a Dutch car and the driver was incorrectly giving way to the left rather than the right.
Am I the only one that finds people who drive German branded cars don’t use their indicators & in many cases tend to be bad drivers? Or is it just me?
I bet the car behind you at 8mins in is thinking “what the heck are they playing at?”. I will certainly point anyone I know who is looking to learn to drive towards your videos, it all helps.
It's not just you. Out of all the egregious cases of speeding and reckless driving that I've seen, a good 8 times out of 10 it's a German car.
@@davidrobins1021 Black Audis are far and away the worst here in North Devon. The general arrogance, lack of empathy, and impatience of the modern driver is sadly very common. In my little town of Bideford there are quite a few 'difficult' junctions where I will let out other drivers even though I have right of way, since I know what a long and frustrating wait it can otherwise be. I am a 'white van man' but also an advanced driver, and surprised thanks are common when I wave someone out who clearly wasn't expecting it. I can honestly say it gives me a buzz and adds to the pleasure I already get from driving properly.
Recently had a crash on a roundabout involving a french driver. Exiting a 2 lane exit, I was in the right lane pulling off, they were in the left lane turning right 🙈 roundabouts are lethal for foreigners.
'I failed my first test because I didn’t go though a red light' but this is wrong because it's not about going through the red light, it's about passing the stop line when the light is on red. If you passed it when it was on green or amber then even if it's red by the time you pass the light it's not going through on red. You are allowed to finish your manouevre if it's safe. (sometimes it's not. There is a junction by me that has no right turn filter and you occasionally get stuck in the middle of the junction and have oncoming cars at you!. You usually have to make use of that split second when the lights turn red and make your turn then)
I had a situation recently on my bike when I went through on green and then some pedestrians jumped out in front of me. One of them shouted that the light was on red, but it was only red by the time I got to that light which was situated on the other side of the junction. I'd gone through on green!
Thanks for the videos. I worry about getting marked down for hesitation. On my last test, because I pulled out of a junction when I shouldn't, I failed. Because i was worried, i was waiting too long. Thanks for explaining it better
As my HGV instructor said, you're better picking up a minor fault for undue hesitation than a serious fault for driving out in front of someone you should have given way to.
Absolutely this. Or in real life, the potential beep from the car behind for not pulling out rather than a crash at a junction.
I agree 100% but in a test situation if you wait they will fail you, even when you cannot know it's safe to make progress.
This one was most helpful for those pesky roundabouts. CheerO
I failed a test for undue hesitation. Examiner asked me to turn right when stuck in heavy rush-hour traffic before a set of lights. I was in the left lane, so had put on a begging signal to get out. Fortunately, someone let me so that was all good, but the examiner did say at the end he was surprised I actually tried it and that he'd have just carried on at the lights instead of turning. Of course in driving test situations you feel pressure to follow the examiner's instructions, and driving myself I'd probably have just gone on straight ahead too.
So I approach the junction. The right hand turn lane is clear, but starts maybe a car length in front of me, separated from the lane I'm currently in by a hatched area with broken white lines. This was the start of the examiner's problem, as he told me in the debrief that I should've moved up to the right hand turn lane instead of waiting in traffic in my lane. To me that was a safe but *not necessary* use of that hatched area.
When I got to the right turn lane, there were a few cars in front, and I waited behind them to turn. As our lights came on, I moved away. There was a filter light for our turn, but this went off just as I was approaching the turning point, so I waited to turn in the junction. In hindsight there was time to make it round before the oncoming traffic reached us, but I was on edge from the traffic condition & examiner sitting there, and I had failed a previous test for clearing a right turn across traffic too slowly, so I decided to wait until the oncoming traffic went and cleared before completing the turn, as if I had entered the junction while the filter light was off. I was in a perfectly safe position not obstructing traffic flow, as it's not like I had actually already started the turn.
At the end of the test the examiner told me I had failed due to hesitation around those lights, and that I needed more practice driving in traffic. Which is always true (even after eventually passing my test I needed much more practice driving in traffic, as I'm sure most do). Obviously though I was gutted as I felt like it should've been a driver fault or two, not a serious. My instructor was in the car for the test and seemed more upset than I did at the fail!
I've passed now, but obviously still not quite over that one lol
I think hesitation serious faults are some of the hardest to accept because obviously at the time the reason you're hesitating is usually because you don't feel like it's safe to go. If you failed for almost crashing or for speeding, it's obvious why, but hesitation fails are really up to the judgement of the examiner as to whether an opportunity is safe or not, and just because the examiner would feel safe taking an opportunity, doesn't mean a novice would. Good examiners must take this into account. Accumulation serious hesitation faults are probably a bit more understandable.
A problem I had with hesitation was that my then instructor (I got a better one afterwards) kept making annoying "you could have gone then" comments when I was trying to assess the situation. I honestly think a lot of instructors and examiners don't get that what looks like an easy opportunity to go for someone with their experience and confidence may not look that way to a beginner, and to this day I fail to see why maybe holding people up for a few seconds so that you don't cause an accident is such a big deal. The driving test should be about safety, not convenience for other drivers who lack patience. You'll get quicker as you get more experienced because it's in your own interest to get quicker. I passed my test in the end, but to this day, I still think it's stupid.
I passed my test on monday, thanks to my instructor telling me it's safer to hesitate and not rush !
I got 3 minors (2) were undue hesitation.
The golden objective of being a driver is travelling from point A to point B whilst being safe and legal e.g., making sure your vehicle is taxed and insured where tye minimum insurance is third party (collision with other road users) and safe such as having good hazard perception and anticipating well in advance what could happen and how will you negotiate with that situation if it does happen and knowing the highway code such as knowing when it's your right of way, when other road users have to give your right of way, what a one way street sign looks like, what should you do when you reach a give way crossing, what's the national speed limit for different types of roads e.g., the national speed limit for a motor way and dual carriage way is 70 MPH where as on a single carriage way road 60 MPH.
Thanks, this is something I struggle with
I failed my 1st driving test apparently due to hesitation, was gutted because I thought it had gone well and I had passed. Passed my 2nd test a few weeks later and honestly do not believe I drove any differently. Been driving almost 40 years now and never been in any accident and never made a claim on my insurance or had one made on it by anyone else.
Ten minutes into the test today, I was sure I had failed, because I made a car slow down and honk his horn at me when emerging from a minor road onto a main road. It turns out the true reason I failed was 4 counts of undue hesitation. The examiner later said there was enough space for the other car to not slow down, and it did not count as a fault, but that experience certainly made me overly cautious.
I failed my 2nd test for undue hesitation.As I was waiting for a car to pass beside me due to tide space, but I didn't realise that it couldn't pass as my car was angled and I was blocking it from passing.All my attention was at the front.😢
I almost failed my driving test for hesitation. I was giving way to a car at a speed calming section when another car was coming behind it. Now there was parked cars so if I went through in this gap then I would've caused problems and so I held back to allow the other car through. When the examiner said I'd passed he also said that he was literally about to write a fail for that hesitation. Crazy! If I had gone through, I probably would've failed for obstructing the car coming in the other direction.
I totally see this too! In some situations you feel whichever choice you make it's going to be a fail.
I passed my test a long time i got a couple of hesitations at roundabouts. If i remember correctly it was all cars arrived at the same and it was a case of myself not wanting to rush the decision and to be safe and not rush. My instructor was more about teaching good observation and not rushing the decision than rushing. I basically said to myself give way to the right they give way to me . I cant remember if the car to my right did or didn't have a signal but they went left s i could have gone . With experience you learn to look at tryre direction more than the signal. So i could have set off but my thinking was be safe and go through the process and set of when safe and i gad right of way. I still did pass first time
I'm one of the unlucky few that failed my practical test yesterday with 1 of 2 faults being undue hesitation! I absolutely agree its a misleading label, since what actually happened is I was meant to overtake a cyclist over hatched lines meant for opposite road users to turn right when the road was clear, but genuinely I just didn't realise I was allowed to go over the hatched lines for that. I had 0 indication to ever overtake, so no hesitation on my part, I just forgot the rules when its okay to overtake! (I was safely driving behind the cyclist at a nice slow speed with no one behind which must have been painful for the examiner and my instructor in the back to witness me not overtaking him)
My other fault was speeding 35 on a 30, my car stuck out slightly at the previous mini-roundabout (only got a minor for that) and I sped on the road I went into since my head wasn't in the right place, tried to focus on looking ahead when I should have been checking my speedo, oh dear (it was a nice clear road with no other road users but that's no excuse for speeding)...
This first attempt in some ways actually made me more confident for the next try since I was so so nervous, but it wasn't as bad as I thought as soon as we got on the road. I'm also somewhat glad my two faults didn't put any road users at risk since both times it was clear around me (besides the cyclist I was very safely slowly following)
Good and informative video as always. Can you make a video about good first cars to buy?
Very different from my area ... Still great info. Wheel position tells a tale, following that where are they looking,, Hate to say my area could be mobile phone even now, gulp
when I took my first driving exam I was confident with little to no hesitation till a biker caught me off when I got prio on a junction resulting in a fail which affected my 2nd attempt, my left leg was shaking and wouldn't stop 😂 but I still persevered through the shaking and passed, so being nervous doesn't necessarily mean you'll fail, just be cautious and always expect the unexpected
Thanks for this reassurance!
Today I failed with serious on undue hesitation. There was a truck parked on the left and there were oncoming vehicles but I got marked because there was hatched area that could be used. I felt the examiner marked me serious too early mainly because I was about to go after looking but it was already marked serious. Previously I had failed because I tried to go past a parked vehicle and this time it's because I didn't go past a parked vehicle. There is no grace for a learner to pause and react.
So sorry about that😢
how many times have you failed? you'll pass next time :)
In them situations if you can proceed and wait in a place that isn't blocking traffic and aids traffic flow, take that option. The rules about hatched areas is a bit impractical at times and a bit of common sense needs to be used. You can enter and wait as long as you don't block traffic flow through the junction. Say at traffic lights turning right if you don't enter and wait you ain't getting through because by the time the traffic clears in the opposite direction the lights will have changed back to red then you can't go . If you kept doing that on every cycle of lights you ain't going to get anywhere. So don't be frightened to use the hatch areas as waiting areas then proceed. It's better than blocking traffic behind you
@@thor8419 With yesterday it is 4 times :/ I am going to keep trying but work on my hesitation and awareness and planning a bit more before trying again.
@@wrightwoodwork Yes thank you . Previously I passed a park car judging there was space and not wanting to block the traffic but I failed that time for passing the parked vehicle and there was oncoming traffic. This time I tried to take safe option but still failed so it bummed me. But I think I still need to work on my awareness and planning. I will keep trying.
Hi! Ever thought about making a video how to enter the traffic on a busy road and judge the distance in front of oncoming cars?
This video may be of interest: ruclips.net/video/IqNW0IrOjzE/видео.html
I failed today for that. I did it once. I stopped at a round about becauseI wasn't 100% sure id make it without her saying it was unsafe. think it was unfair. I only did it once.
This is helpful. Thank you
Do you perform test for taxidrivers/license? Would be fun to learn any differences between the UK and the swedish tests (I have the swedish taxi license). The driven test in swe is kind of a zero error tolerance test (almost) and a traffic flow engagement test. (And some other aspects)
Since getting a much more powerful car, roundabouts are much easier. I imagine the HGV tests on roundabouts are soooo much harder because by the time your lorry has entered the roundabout, there are cars!
I did 10 lessons with a driving instructor in a slightly older car and I would stall regularly or it would judder. I changed instructors and the 2nd one had a new mini. I hardly stalled and I could pull away so much faster. My first hour with him and I could pull away with no issues and I learnt more than the previous 10 hours.
When I bought my own car, I can pull away in 2nd and it doesn't even stall and it pulls away without me even putting my foot on the gas (my 1st instructor wanted me to be able to do this but I think that his car was too knackered). When I feel that it doesn't like a gear I just have to apply a tiny bit of gas or change and it's fine. I can 'hang' on longer without it feeling that it will die. That first car was awful.
My work knackered pool car used to stall all the time and judder too (and the engine just wouldn't turn on regularly). I used to prefer taking the personal cars because they were much easier to drive. It's tricky if the learner has a crap old car to drive in. Sometimes a more powerful car is easier!
I have my driving test tomorrow I’ve been binging your videos I’m really nervous
My anxiety watching you hold up traffic 📈me worrying about people behind me is one of the problems I need to work on. Especially when parking with people behind me... watching this kind of helps knowing everyone is still okay after this 😅
A lot of people don't slow down enough into junctions/hazards and then they don't have time to think which leads to hesitation or missed opportunity to go.
I agree that is sometimes the problem. It also leads to slamming on the brakes.
Thanks for this video👃
On a trailer test in Northern Ireland I got 2 minors/driving faults for hesitation. I forgot to ask the examiner to run through them as I got 8 in total and that got me feeling down despite passing. Anyway, I think I got them for how I acted at a crossroads and for not overtaking a slow learner respectively and would have like to have seen some examples for these scenarios.
I think I got one at the crossroads because there was an oncoming car wishing to continue straight and I was turning right, but they waved me to go first which threw me off. There was also a parked car to the right which slowed traffic from that direction, but I expected to accelerate more on driving around it, and didn't fancy my chances with a trailer in a car I was still unfamiliar with. I had 2 separate double sessions prior to test, a sort of bundle number of hours thing that instructor did, chosen because they were related to the instructor I got my basic car licence with, which I was happy with, although she has since started her own driving school since then and had/has a different style to this instructor. Anyway, I crept forward then changed my mind a couple of times (a somewhat closed view to top it off) after the driver ahead decided not to go first and traffic from the left caused those from the right to stop behind the parked car then take the same gap I was going for to move around it, but slower than I expected/prepared myself for.
The second, or maybe both, I gained on a learner doing 20 mph in a 30 mph zone, 2 lane one way road. I stayed behind as I was following signs as instructed at this point, only the left lane went to 'Belfast' around this piece from the station in Coleraine. If I was driving myself, I would have passed in front of the police station, but in personal driving I wouldn't be as concerned about not exceeding the speed limit as on test, so I didn't go there. Unfortunately, the learner was also following signs to Belfast by the looks of it and after stalling at at least one set of lights, exited ahead of me onto the dual carriageway past the hospital, now a 50 mph zone in which they were doing 30 mph. I thought for sure I had to overtake now, but the anxiety of exceeding the speed limit meant I was maybe a bit slow to committing to the pass, and at the moment I was about to go for it, another car pulled out from behind, and several followed them. All but one got through the next set of lights at the hospital itself, with me still behind the learner. It accelerated away and the learner was slow again, I waited to see how fast exactly they were going to go as I couldn't go over 45 mph either if they found the accelerator for the soon to be 70 mph zone. They accelerated, slowly again, then an Audi appeared in the slip road slightly behind the learner. I decided I had to move over for them to join safely, so checked, changed lanes, but for fear of exceeding 45 mph and failing, I didn't accelerate as much as expected, only reaching 40 mph. The learner must have been encouraged by their instructor due to the position of the Audi, so they probably hit 45 mph relatively quickly after that, and the Audi joined at the stereotypical following distance so didn't need me to move over after all, and then I'm sitting in lane 2 at 40 mph in a national dual carriageway. I moved left again, but I imagine that would have been enough for a 'hesitation' mark, and presumably the crossroads thing too, or maybe failing to pass before the national limit was the first then butchering the move over after was the second, either way, I'd have liked to see examples beyond roundabouts for that reason, or at least some feedback if this comment has enough detail to do so if you read this.
Talk about trying to be safe on the road!
What do you say when the food sucks in a positive way?
I'm sat here getting vicarious anxiety because of the cars behind you when you're intentionally missing opportunities.
One of the 3 minors on my driving test was a hesitation for not overtaking a tractor. We were on a relatively narrow country road with low visibility so I didn’t even consider it as an option until the car behind overtook both me and the tractor at the same time 😂
Hi, well, look at it this way, your inexperience resulted in another driver performing a potentially dangerous manoeuvre. You might have pulled out as they overtook you. Your L plates should have made them give you more time. Both of you were at fault but if you don't feel a manoeuvre is safe then don't do it - even if it means failing the test. You need more experience to evaluate these situations. I once asked my Dad how long it would take me to become a reasonably good driver expecting to get the answer as some number of months. Then thousand mile is wha he said and you know what? I now realise he was right. Passing the test is just the start, we have to go on learning for the rest of our driving career. I've been driving since 1987 with no points ever on my licence and I am still learning. Keep at it, you'll get there. Remember, driving is a privilege, not a right and you have the weapon - go carefully, go safely.
Thank you for this video , I don’t have hesitation issues on roundabouts sometimes on junctions from side roads to busier roads. Do you have any videos on decision making on busy junctions turning left/right
This video may help: ruclips.net/video/IqNW0IrOjzE/видео.html
9:43 Interested to know what became of that exit on that roundabout, appeared to me that the Audi in the mirror looked like they came around abit aggressively to squeeze in front and if not Looked to be going around too quickly knowing the static traffic would likely be sat on the roundabout blocking the 3rd exit. 🤔
I’m just curious why anyone behind you didn’t honk the horn when you had stuck at the roundabouts!
I was in my learner car. The majority of driver's are patient with learners. The bad examples you may see posted on the internet really are the few, not the norm.
It's always better to get a minor or two for undue hesitation and be safe than to get a serious or dangerous!
As its said in comments. Pupils do not want to take chances with what is considered an opportunity in traffic. I myself got marked for that. Now i have full license i even drive when car from the right side is already moving but i have time to slip in front of it since i didnt stop completely before roundabout, im sure if i did it at test i would made a serious grade mistake and fail
I think the key word you didnt mention here 8s 'undue ' hesitation
I failed my test today due to undue hesitation at roundabout only and he said I was being too cautious..if i knew this was a major fault could have done better...I'll try again
need more commentary while you drive, it helps greatly
On my mod2 motorbike test I almost had a clean sheet, right until the right turn back into the test centre at the end, and got a hesitation minor.
I failed my driving test today. I came up to a mini roundabout signalling to turn right , as I approached a bus approached the mini roundabout from my right hand side so I stopped momentarily. Realising he was signalling left I then got going and turned right. My instructor said he thought it was really harsh that I failed for that and I feel a little bit cheated because the whole drive went so well. 1 serious fault and that was it. Everyone I’ve spoken to thinks I was harshly treated just wondered what you thought of this?
failed mine cause of hesitation, need to sort it out. Really annoying.
Hello Richard,
I am Fedrick I want to know from you that 'is it bad for the vehicle or the clutch if we do handbrake start many times on a very long steep uphill? Please make a short video on that...thank you...
It's not bad if you need to do it, however it does more wear and tear. Why not park in the opposite direction?
Watch the hand positions of the other drivers to get an idea of their intentions.
Hey Richard
I know you covered this briefly in the video where you take someone who passed their test but haven't driven in a long time do a mock test again.
But was wondering if you ever made a video on your opinion on things such as pass plus. Also not gonna lie. I still hesitate even after I passed 😂
My driving instructor makes me nervous ,she is always rushing me always . I am have to change instructors now
can you please make a video on how to slow down at pedestrians crossing?
I may do in the future, thank you for your suggestion.
@@ConquerDriving awesome! thank you!
5:12 people just driving over the mini roundabout instead of around it.
Earlier this morning I was pulled over by cops but only reason they pulled me over ware to say for long time they didn't see someone driving so right and they give me set of reflective triangles, first aid reflective jacket and buch of guddies xD. So here am I to say thanks for all great tips and tricks and hopefully to try and get some of my good mood over to you. xD
Hesitation is defeat.
Sir do you have a video on off road driving
That is not in the driving test, so I'm going to say no.